FAQ for people thinking about taking 6.033

Q. Prerequisites. I want to take 6.033 this term,
but I haven't taken 6.004 yet, and the catalog says that is a
prerequisite. Is the prerequisite really needed? I might be able
to take 6.004 at the same time. Will that work? My friend started
6.004 but dropped it after the second quiz. Can she take 6.033?

A. No; you need 6.004 PRIOR to 6.033. 6.004
really is a pre-requisite, not a co-requisite
for 6.033. 6.033 builds on material from the last half of 6.004,
and it takes off with no review and at a substantially faster
pace. If you haven't completed 6.004 in a previous term
6.033 will be rough.

Q. Sophomores. I'm a sophomore. I got an A in
6.004, I've been hacking systems for four summers at Microsoft and
Google, and I want to take 6.033 now. But I have been warned that
sophomores have a lot of trouble with 6.033. What's the story?

A. We strongly discourage sophomores from taking
6.033 even if they have already accumulated the nominal
prerequisites. Since this is a class where we study real systems,
students get more out of 6.033 the more experience they have in
computer science. You can accumulate that experience in various
ways: UROP assignments, other courses, summer jobs, more
interaction with the Athena clusters, etc. Juniors have an
additional year of such experience.

The success rate of sophomores is typically lower than for juniors
and seniors, and the sophomores that stick with the class tend to
spend much more time on 6.033 than they would like.

Q. Late start. It is now {choose one: 1, 2, 3, 4}
weeks into the term and I want to add 6.033. I haven't been
participating up till now, but I'm willing to work hard to catch
up. What are my prospects?

A. Much of the learning experience in 6.033 comes from
participating in recitation discussions of assigned papers. A large part of
your grade depends on that participation, which you cannot make up. For N
> 2, it's generally not possible.

Q. Listeners. 6.033 isn't in my list of
requirements, and I don't need a grade. But the material looks
interesting. Can I have permission to register for it as a
listener?

A. Yes and No. In 6.033, we regularly have a
much larger enrollment than the department has teaching
resources. At the same time, we would like to cater to students
who want just to listen. So we offer a compromise: we have no
objection to listeners attending the lectures, but we don't permit
listeners to join recitations. The reason is that 6.033
recitations are intended for discussion. Active listeners usurp
opportunities that registered class members should have to
participate. And passive listeners act as negative role models for
those registered students who are hesitant to participate. Either
way, it doesn't work very well.